I didn’t know who this John Grisham is or was, but perseverance is certainly a lesson we all can learn from him – be it for blogging or any other goal we want to achieve.

A few days before 31st December, last year, I created a list of goals for this year and the first one was to be productive. For that, I removed all the chat apps and e-mail from my phone (thanks to a post by Alexis Grant for the inspiration and reminder). I also unsubscribed from a lot of newsletters, which kept piling up my Inbox (am happy to be very near to Inbox zero now, daily).

Secondly, I started to write, the first thing when I start to work – in the mornings. Though the words I write seem to become lower and I tend to stop writing, and then restart, but it’s many times better than checking e-mail the first thing in the mornings,and then losing focus. I don’t check e-mail till noon, now. This helps me a lot to think clearly and to refocus on my goals if the focus tends to shift.

I stopped blogging on my own blog, last year. This year I’ll be publishing posts about once a month only. But, more guest posting than last year. Maybe, someday I’ll guest post on BABB too. 🙂

BTW, why are the comments dated from July, 2014, when this post was published today? Strange thing.

Anyway, nice post on reminding us to focus on our goals. Will visit again.

Welcome to Be a Better Blogger. I’m so glad you stopped by to say hello!

Hopefully you know who Grisham is now. 🙂 His perseverance and dedication to writing are certainly worth a mention.

Being productive is a great goal to have. Sounds like you had a good method for making sure you accomplished your goal!. Staying focused is a tough one for most people (me included). Distractions are everywhere! Always having a plan before you sit at a computer is very helpful.

How’s your guest posting going? It can do wonders for your blog. I’m not actively accepting guest posts right now, but if you are interested in guest posting here down the road make sure you visit my About page. It has a link to an in-depth page with my guest posting guidelines.

I hope you have a great day, Raspal! Hope to see you here on the blog again.

P.S. The reason some comments are dated July 2014 is the original version of this post was published in late May 2014 when the site was brand new. I updated the post, and gave it a new publish date. It’s a common practice for giving old, forgotten posts some love. 🙂

I can remember when I first read “The Firm,” and how vivid and gripping it was. Grisham wanted to a successful write so he did what he had to do: work hard, be determine, and persevere. Every successful person share those qualities — excepting some who inherited theirs.

Well I had to come contribute a comment from one more non-family member. 🙂

This post actually inspired me in a totally different way than you intended. See, I’m okay if my blog never gets that popular or makes me any money. It’s really just a platform for me to connect with people and practice my writing on.

But the thing that I really want – that thing deep down that I’ve wanted since the 3rd grade – is to write fiction. To have a book published.

But every time I sit down to work on that, a little voice comes into my head and tells me that only one out of a million struggling writers ever makes money writing fiction, and it’s a pretty stupid way to spend my time. That I need to be responsible and focus on work that’s more likely to pay me.

Those things are probably true, but as I was reading this, I was just thinking of what Grisham’s family must have thought when he told them he was quitting law to write stories about it. And how he managed to balance responsibility AND pursue his dream.

I know that little voice you are talking about and I can totally relate ! There is something else I gleaned from this post : John Grisham worked on his novel while STILL working his lawyer job.

He got the bills paid AND pursued his passion until the passion was big enough to pay him.

I love that about this story. Make sure your bills are paid but still write the fiction you want to write with the sacrifice required. Use your blog as a platform to launch it when you are done and go on from there.

We live in a day of unprecedented opportunity. I mean in 1984, which BTW is a year after I was born, blogs and the internet as we know it were so far off !!

Uhhhhhh, so you’re working on your dream, right? Cause I know you can ace this.

You know me and the guys are here doing the dance and cheerin’ you on. Yes?

Yes.

So glad we had this conversation.

I have a book recommendation for you Mandie–get it ASAP. It’ll tell those voices in yer head to make a sumer home where sunburns are mandatory.

“Write. Publish. Repeat.” by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant.

Flipped my head about and got me running in the right direction. Yeah, I was doing most everything right–and you know how much i write fiction….but I was doing it IN THE WRONG ORDER.

The thing i love about what they say, is the mapping out exactly how TO make a living writing fiction. Step by step, sales funnels and more. All easy to do, just most people don’t want to do the work–and I KNOW you’re a powerhouse woman with talent.

So have a nice glass of wine, kick the voice in the tenders and move on.

It’s what I do.

OH–better yet, send the sucker to me.
I’ve got a closet FULL of voices that’ll straighten him out, or gag e’m for good.

I love that you have a dream you won’t let die. Don’t listen to that voice. I think you should do both… Work on the jobs that will help sustain you financially, but also take the time to do something for yourself. (I’m trying — TRYING! — to do the same.)

Perhaps your down time (a foreign concept to me, sadly!) can become your writing time? It might help if you make a distinction between your work environment and your writing environment. My wife likes to light candles if she is studying or working on a project. She says, “a little Vivaldi playing in the background helps as well. Make it a relaxing spot.” I don’t know what any of that means, but it sounds good. 🙂

If anyone can do it, it’s you! I’m glad the post breathed a bit more life into your dream. Go make it happen! We’re rooting for you.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, Mandie! And hopefully this new week is treating you well.

I love this post. It reminds me of me in a lot of ways. Problem is Im trying to do 3 things at once LOL… but i enjoy it and feel fulfilled. Now I have something I can relate to! Thanks for the share Kevin! I hope you had a Happy New Year!

I think having a set routine works wonders. Finding a schedule that works best for you is a great way to keep things flowing smoothly… and posting twice a week will definitely get more content out there. Hope you have great success with the Mon/Thu schedule!

That sounds like a good article. There are some days when it’s all we can do to just show up. Those who are able to keep plowing forward on those days are the ones who, more times than not, become the “success” stories we read about. 🙂

Man, hard to jump over, make a comment–then rush out for family–and get back here for myself! UNGH.

BTW, your wife rocks. I know exACTly what she means. Vivaldi? Oh yeah. …course, I’ll switch that out for Kitaro after about 7.24 minutes.

But that’s just me.

I’ve seen The Firm on the big screen, but never read any of his books. Yet reading this sounds like a chapter form my own life. Been doing all this for a decade..and longer if you include the planning of the stories. Heck, if I go back to the first projects I did as a 16 year old and sold 25K copies of each—that’s 30 years pushing with all of my might.

Heh. Now it reminds me of Charles Schultz, “Only took me 29 years to become an overnight success.”

Just wish we lived closer, I’d buy you lunch once a week just so I could get you OUT of the office and make you laugh =).

You know what’s hard? Is knowing you’ve been running really fast down the wrong path.
Heck, it reminds me of Mandie’s article, “Finding Yourself on the Wrong Road in the Right Direction.” It’s perfect for how I feel at this second.

Even when I started learning from Jon Morrow, all his courses showed me I was doing all the right things, but in the wrong order. Good thing is, I’m past all the screaming. This is about spinning on my heels, rebranding and writing guest posts as fast as possible.

Back when I use to read a lot of enjoyment, I read a lot of John’s novels. I love suspense and mysteries, they are my favorite.

Now I know we can also assume that John loved to write. I think when you’re very passionate about something then it’s more of a joy instead of a task. I know that some people don’t really enjoy blogging but it’s what blogging can do for them which is why they stick with it.

I agree that if we want something bad in life we need to dive in and do the work whether we’re having a bad day or not. I also know we all do need time off so for the most part I’m definitely going to agree with you. Good things come to those that stick with it. 😉

Some great advice here, Kevin. I certainly think “doing the work” is important to getting anything you really to do done. In the past, I’ve just not done that and of course, surprise! not got anywhere.

Now, I’m a true believer that scheduling can actually lead to lack of motivation because it becomes something you need to do. It’s the excepted thinking that schedules help and I know that for many people they do, especially when starting out on a project. (I heard somewhere that it takes doing something for 21 days straight for that thing to become a habit.) But there’s the rub: sometimes habits turn off creativity.

What works for me, and what John Grisham’s example of turning up early to the office so he could write, is just to keep on doing it. Keep on writing in the early hours of the morning. Keep on dictating novel into a mic on the bus commute with an earphone mic so people think you’re talking on the phone. Keep on finding what works and then doing that.

Great article and I love the Grisham books. I haven’t yet read “The Firm” book, but I did watch the movie.

I had never heard about John Grisham’s journey to being a successful author. It definitely sounds like he wanted it bad enough.

As a blogger, we can definitely learn a lot from his journey. I totally agree that we have to learn how to love writing. I also do my writing early in the A.M. This is when I seem to be more creative and productive.

I make it a point to write at least 1,000 words per day. Just by implementing this habit, I now have several blog posts scheduled in advance.

This means that I no longer have to worry about not having a new blog post scheduled every week.

Totally agree, anything worthwhile takes a lot of persistent and hard work. Thanks for sharing this post with us, it was extremely motivational.